Yevgeniy Zhovtis

Yevgeniy Zhovtis "is the director of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, founder and board member of the "Bota" Foundation, board member of the Central Eurasia Project of the Open Society Institute, and a participant in a Working Group on Reform of Electoral Legislation in Kazakhstan. He has received several honors for his work in human rights over the last decade, including the 1998 USA and European Union Democracy and Civil Society Award, the 1999 International League for Human Rights Award, the 2005 International Helsinki Federation Recognition Award, and the 2007 Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Human Rights Award.

"In the early 1990s, Mr. Zhovtis worked for the Independent Trade Union Center of Kazakhstan, now the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Kazakhstan. He left this work to study law in 1996, and in 1999 graduated with honors from the High Law School "Adilet" in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In 2002 he was named the Best Lawyer of Kazakhstan. Mr. Zhovtis has published more than 150 publications on the problems of democratization and economic transformation, and on the human rights situation and rule of law in Kazakhstan, and has lectured extensively on these topics at various universities.

"Mr. Zhovtis has chaired various committees, such as the Forum of Democratic Forces of Kazakhstan and the Board of Directors of "Soros-Kazakhstan" Foundation. He has also participated in the Consultative Council on the Problems of Public Policy; the Working Group on Abolition of the Death Penalty; the OSCE Expert Panel on Freedom of Assembly; the Expert Council attached to the Commission on Human Rights under the President of Kazakhstan; the Expert Council on Free Access to Justice attached to the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan; the Open Society Institute Sub-Board on Law, Human Rights, and Criminal Justice; the Kazakhstan Democracy Informational Network; the "Interlegal" Foundation; the Civil Movement "Azamat"; and the Social-Democratic Party of Kazakhstan."


 * Steering Committee, World Movement for Democracy